Miriam Michelson's Yellow Journalism and the Multi-Ethnic West
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4571999 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lori Harrison-Kahan (Boston College), Karen E H Skinazi (0000-0001-7613-0264, University of Birmingham) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 182-207 |
| Publication date | 2015-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | MELUS Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-755X • E-ISSN: 1946-3170 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/melus/mlv013 |
| OpenAlex | W2170084927 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
This article introduces turn-of-the-twentieth-century Jewish American writer Miriam Michelson to MELUS readers. Although Michelson has been overlooked by scholars of American literature, we argue that she is an important voice in multi-ethnic women’s writing of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century West. In the essay, we position Michelson alongside Edith Eaton (Sui Sin Far), another long neglected woman writer. Like Eaton’s, the recovery of Michelson’s fiction and journalism builds on and complicates our current understanding of American literary history by adding the voice of an underrepresented minority writer. We show that Michelson’s work offers a rich archive for scholars and teachers of women’s writing and cross-ethnic studies. We also demonstrate that Michelson’s fiction is an important resource for scholars of Jewish American literature and culture, who, in focusing on the immigrant experience in the New York ghetto, have largely ignored the Jewish experience on the multi-ethnic Western frontier. This article also serves as an introduction to the accompanying text, “In Chy Fong’s Restaurant,” a chapter from Michelson’s 1905 novel A Yellow Journalist . “In Chy Fong’s Restaurant” features the book’s main character, Rhoda Massey, a white journalist, going under cover--or passing--as a Chinese prostitute in order to report on corruption in Chinatown. Her plan is thwarted when a white missionary, not realizing her disguise, kidnaps Rhoda in an effort to save her soul. As we argue in this essay, “In Chy Fong’s Restaurant” offers a fascinating commentary on cross-racial and gendered power dynamics in turn-of-the-twentieth-century San Francisco.
Art · Ethnic group · Frontier · Immigration · Journalism · Judaism · Literature · Media studies · Sociology · White (mutation) · American History and Culture · Anthropology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Gender Studies · History · Race, History, and American Society
Klezmer America
Crossing the Line
Neither Black Nor White Yet Both
Passing and the Fictions of Identity
Yellow Slavery,” Narratives of Rescue, and Sui Sin Far/Edith Maude Eaton’s “Lin John” (1899)
Cross-Cultural Affinities between Native American and White Women in "The Alaska Widow" by Edith Eaton (Sui Sin Far)
As to her race, its secret is loudly revealed
The Wonderlode of Silver and Gold
The Chinese of Virginia City, Nevada
Chinatown's Angry Angel
From Fact to Fiction
Stephen Crane, Journalism, and the Making of Modern American Literature
Slippery Language and False Dilemmas
Sui Sin Far/Edith Eaton
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |